I have one bottle of French red that I thought might be nice to mull. I did not want to use the whole bottle as it should be drunk straight away, and if I had a whole bottle I would be drunk straight away!

Thus mulled wine for one:

1/2 bottle of red wine

100 mls apple juice (or orange – I only had apple)

a squirt of lemon juice

2Tblsp brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon orange zest*

1/2 a cinnamon quill

a good pinch of allspice

a good pinch of nutmeg

a few cloves

Put all the ingredients except the wine into a pot and bring to the boil.

Remove from the heat and leave to stand for ten minutes for the spice flavours to infuse

Add the red wine and reheat until it is almost boiling, then turn off the heat and leave for a few more minutes

Pour through a tea strainer into a glass or mug.

Mulled Wine for One

That is almost half a litre of mulled red wine. Should get some sleep tonight!

* Zest: Whenever I find a really nice unblemished orange or lemon, I carefully peel the zest and chop it finely. I then free-flow freeze it ready for use.